So we had this kitty visit us back in July. Didn't think anything about it. We already have 3 cats. 1 we adopted from a rescue and was told it was a feral socialized kitten. Honestly, she's the best of our 3 cats. 1 cat was a stray that was skin and bones that approached our youngest daughter one day. We took him in and the only issue he has is that he hates feet. I'm going to guess he might have been kicked or something at one time or another. Our 3rd cat we found in our back field at 4 days old. Bottle fed her and she's a happy girl. She's more skittish than the others though. Loud noises and other people will send her into hiding.
My guess is that this cat that we caught was coming to visit my cats. Always alone. No other cats with it. We had a terrible storm that night. My husband couldn't sleep so he went downstairs to the couch and could hear this cat howling pathetically under our deck. He said it sounded like it wanted in out of the storm. Weeks went by never saw the cat. Then out of the blue we hear something trying to get under our grill (we made steak on the grill for dinner that night). I looked out the upstairs window but couldn't see anything. Husband went to kitchen and opened patio door and looked around and couldn't see anything.
Fast forward another week. Cat showed up again looking skinny. We started feeding it. This went on for a month and then we tried catching it 3 times and failed each time. After the first failure he disappeared for a week. Second time was a few days and the 3rd time, a day. He always came back though. Can't open the sliding door, he bolts. He sits outside on the deck cleaning himself. He looks in the sliding glass door at us, makes full eye contact. Will come to the edge of the window by the open window screen right under us and look but if we make any sudden movements he bolts. We watch tv during the warmer days with the windows open and he just hangs out with us like he's one of ours, he just does it outside on the deck. When he's done he goes down the stairs and yowls his goodbye.
So I came looking on here. Told hubby we need to set the trap and put the food on the edge and slowly move it to the back. We've been doing this for the past 2 weeks now. Last night we set the trap and caught him(?).
Ghost (what we named it) is in a large dog crate in my garage for now. When we put him in there he went to the far corner hissed and hunkered down. I crouched down talking softly. He doesn't perceive me as a threat. He will make eye contact with me and do the squinting thing. Even outside he did this on my deck. He hasn't yowled at all. He's thrown himself against the cage. Dumped the food and water dishes and moved his litter box. We got a lamp with a dim bulb, clock radio with classical music on, and draped the crate with this left over black heavy duty felt we had. We left him alone other than to set this stuff up.
I went in there this morning to check on him. He will barely make eye contact with me now. He was ok for the most part. Cleaned what I could of the cage, which honestly wasn't much. Grabbed the turned over food and water dishes but still left the mess on the bottom of the cage of the soft food that got spilled. One of the dishes was close to him and he hissed at me to let me know I was too close. He didn't swat at me, just got up and walked to the corner farthest from me. Tried to leave the felt off the front but he started banging against the cage.
We need to put a door on the room we want to put him in and that's out goal this weekend. I also know that I need to treat him with parasite killer but don't know how that's going to work. I'm afraid that the Capstar will probably scare the crud out of him. I also need to find a vet that handles ferals, and then figure out how to get him contained again.
My husband wants to keep him, he's said as much. I've told him it could take a year and even then he might never be a lap cat.
I just feel over whelmed at this point. I know this is a long post. I've read the how to tame a feral and tough love videos. I can understand how people get discouraged really fast. Looking at him I would think he's miserable too. But I keep talking and telling him winter's coming and this is for the best. I think I'm trying to convince myself of this too.
The picture is the one time he visited during the day. I was loading my dishwasher and he honestly shocked the heck out of me being here, had never seen his during the day. I tried putting food out and he bolted.
My guess is that this cat that we caught was coming to visit my cats. Always alone. No other cats with it. We had a terrible storm that night. My husband couldn't sleep so he went downstairs to the couch and could hear this cat howling pathetically under our deck. He said it sounded like it wanted in out of the storm. Weeks went by never saw the cat. Then out of the blue we hear something trying to get under our grill (we made steak on the grill for dinner that night). I looked out the upstairs window but couldn't see anything. Husband went to kitchen and opened patio door and looked around and couldn't see anything.
Fast forward another week. Cat showed up again looking skinny. We started feeding it. This went on for a month and then we tried catching it 3 times and failed each time. After the first failure he disappeared for a week. Second time was a few days and the 3rd time, a day. He always came back though. Can't open the sliding door, he bolts. He sits outside on the deck cleaning himself. He looks in the sliding glass door at us, makes full eye contact. Will come to the edge of the window by the open window screen right under us and look but if we make any sudden movements he bolts. We watch tv during the warmer days with the windows open and he just hangs out with us like he's one of ours, he just does it outside on the deck. When he's done he goes down the stairs and yowls his goodbye.
So I came looking on here. Told hubby we need to set the trap and put the food on the edge and slowly move it to the back. We've been doing this for the past 2 weeks now. Last night we set the trap and caught him(?).
Ghost (what we named it) is in a large dog crate in my garage for now. When we put him in there he went to the far corner hissed and hunkered down. I crouched down talking softly. He doesn't perceive me as a threat. He will make eye contact with me and do the squinting thing. Even outside he did this on my deck. He hasn't yowled at all. He's thrown himself against the cage. Dumped the food and water dishes and moved his litter box. We got a lamp with a dim bulb, clock radio with classical music on, and draped the crate with this left over black heavy duty felt we had. We left him alone other than to set this stuff up.
I went in there this morning to check on him. He will barely make eye contact with me now. He was ok for the most part. Cleaned what I could of the cage, which honestly wasn't much. Grabbed the turned over food and water dishes but still left the mess on the bottom of the cage of the soft food that got spilled. One of the dishes was close to him and he hissed at me to let me know I was too close. He didn't swat at me, just got up and walked to the corner farthest from me. Tried to leave the felt off the front but he started banging against the cage.
We need to put a door on the room we want to put him in and that's out goal this weekend. I also know that I need to treat him with parasite killer but don't know how that's going to work. I'm afraid that the Capstar will probably scare the crud out of him. I also need to find a vet that handles ferals, and then figure out how to get him contained again.
My husband wants to keep him, he's said as much. I've told him it could take a year and even then he might never be a lap cat.
I just feel over whelmed at this point. I know this is a long post. I've read the how to tame a feral and tough love videos. I can understand how people get discouraged really fast. Looking at him I would think he's miserable too. But I keep talking and telling him winter's coming and this is for the best. I think I'm trying to convince myself of this too.
The picture is the one time he visited during the day. I was loading my dishwasher and he honestly shocked the heck out of me being here, had never seen his during the day. I tried putting food out and he bolted.
Please don’t be stressed. I know the feeling but all of this can be worked out. It may go more quickly than you imagine. Hang in there. The following post is long but it might help. 
